Go For Graduation Challenge
The "Go for Graduation" Scholarship program, now entering its third year, is designed to help BSC students who need special financial assistance to complete their final year of college and graduate.

Bridge and Lane Closure
As the Martin Luther King Bridge will be closing beginning Friday, June 5, please use caution when traveling to and from campus. The Route 52 entrance will be temporarily closed through the Martin Luther King bridge replacement project. An alternate route along Hill Street has been established.

School of Nursing & Allied Health
The School of Nursing and Allied Health offers degrees in nursing and radiologic technology. Programs offered include: baccalaureate and associate degrees in nursing, baccalaureate in radiologic sciences, and the associate degree in radiologic technology.

The W. Paul Cole, Jr. School of Business
The School of Business at Bluefield State College offers a variety of programs. Students in the four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration program must complete the requirements of two specializations chosen from: accounting, management, marketing, or computer science.

School of Education
The School of Education offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Elementary Education (K-6) or Early/Middle Education. The program prepares graduates to teach at the Elementary (K-6) grade level and/or the Middle School (5-9) grade level in one of four required areas of specialization: English/Language Arts, Mathematics, General Science, and Social Studies.

School of Engineering Technology & Computer Science
Students graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science are prepared for positions as systems analysts, software designers, network professionals, and webmasters depending on the education path taken.

Bluefield State College
Bluefield State College was established as a black teachers college by an act of the West Virginia Legislature in 1895 and was integrated after 1954. By the 1960's the College had a comprehensive four-year program of teacher education, arts and sciences, and engineering technology. Gradually a variety of two-year technical programs evolved in response to local needs.

Dr. James Walters discusses DNA molecule structure with an interested young student during the Bluefield State College Biomedical Club’s presentation at Princeton’s Fourth of July Celebration. Dr. Amanda Matoushek works with a student to create a “brain hat” during the Bluefield State College Biome...

(Bluefield)—A $23,000 grant award from the West Virginia Department of Education & the Arts will provide a valuable and substantial boost to the Bluefield Professional Development Schools (PDS) consortium. The Bluefield PDS focuses upon enhancing the preparation of teacher education candidates, enh...

ss Bluefield State College President Dr. Marsha Krotseng (center) and her husband, Mr. Lee Krotseng (right) recently presented a $12,000 check to the Bluefield State College Foundation in support of the “Go For Graduation Challenge” at BSC. Betty Carroll (left), BSC Foundation Executive Director, r...

The motion was made and seconded (NKantor/JStafford) to approve minutes of the September 18, 2003 Board meeting as submitted. Motion carried.

Financial & Administrative Affairs Report

Policies

Mrs. Shelia Johnson said that there were some policies not previously submitted to the Board of Governors that were not being distributed for Board review and action. She introduced Ms. Libby Belcher, Human Resource Director, who provided an overview of the policies. Ms Belcher indicated Series 8 and Series 9 where changed and she recommended that a committee be set up to review both. It was agreed that the following individuals would review the two policies - Anne Crowe, chair; Libby Belcher, Frank Ball, and Daniel Frost. A motion was made and seconded (JKantor/JCaffrey) to approve technical changes as necessary with regard to the policies presented. The second set of materials that Ms. Belcher distributed concerned five policies that had not been previously addressed. She said the committee needs to review those policies - Series 18, Series 20, Series 39, Series 46, and Series 67. The third item that she mentioned was policy 59 which has been changed to Series 5 and BSC policy 24. She said HEPC rewrote this policy. She recommended that this policy be reviewed. Chairman Barnes noted that those items that are highlighted in the copy letter should also be assigned to the committee appointed to review Series 8 and 9, with that committee to bring the documents back to the Board along with the committee’s recommendations.

Pell and Direct Loans

Shelia Johnson mentioned that the Pell Grant and Direct Loan disbursement at BSC for FY 2003 amounted to about $8.5 million. She said the amount of Perkins Loan funds awarded by the College is about $50,000 during FY 2003.

Audits

Shelia mentioned several audits that have taken place, including purchasing performance audits and purchase card audits. Federal programs and financial statements will be audited in the future.

Expression of Interest

Shelia said there were some expressions of interest for architectural services to look at Mahood Hall to see if it is suitable for dorms, consider costs, etc., and consider space utilization. A consultant will review space utilization efficiency on campus, and consider the impact upon space utilization that will result from restoring Mahood Hall to dormitory usage along with the need to relocate faculty and staff from Mahood Hall to other locations.

Shelia said the pre-bid meeting is scheduled to take place next week and to date there has not been much interest expressed.

Dr. Eaves introduced Mr. Terry Brown, Athletic Director, who discussed the addition of volleyball as a tenth intercollegiate sport for BSC. Mr. Brown said the NCAA guidelines state that that the College must have ten sports and currently there are nine. There was discussion concerning the sports. A motion was made and seconded (NKantor/LAikens) to approve the addition of volleyball as an intercollegiate sport at BSC. Motion carried.

Campus Credit Card Proposal

Dr. Eaves discussed the proposed policy to prohibit credit card companies from soliciting students to apply for their cards. A motion was made and seconded (LAikens/D Frost) to approve the credit card policy. Motion carried.

Legislative Update

Mr. Jim Nelson presented a summary of Dr. Walker’s meetings with state legislators during the past month.

Mr. Nelson mentioned that Concord College/Bluefield State College collaborative report received approval by the Higher Education Policy Commission on October 9. The report will be forwarded to the Legislative Oversight Committee on Educational Affairs (LOCEA).

Resolution

Mr. Nelson presented the revised resolution, encouraging the state to provide a steady level of financial support for public higher education. There was a long discussion concerning the resolution for a “unity budget.” Mr. Barnes said that many changes have been made and several items have been removed from the earlier draft of the resolution. Mr. Barnes asked that the resolution be revised to incorporate the recommendations of Board members, then distributed electronically to Board members for their review so that it can be approved and sent to the Chancellor.

Enrollment Update

Mr. Ray Mull, Registrar gave out a report on enrollment and gave a review of the enrollment in place of Mr. John Cardwell, who was unable to attend the meeting. He said the number of students that have registered for the Fall 2003 Semester is 900 more than the number registered on the same date one year ago. The number of paid students is 782 ahead of year ago, same date figures. He said the enrollment increase is fueled in large measure by the record number of returning students.

New River Community & Technical College

Accreditation

Dr. Perkins indicated that the committee is moving forward and is reviewing the second draft of the Preliminary Information Form (PIF), which is to be submitted in December. That document must be accepted before the College can proceed with a self-study.

Library Commission

Dr. Perkins said that Chairman Barnes, Dr. Walker, and he had met with the president of the of Board of Trustees of the Greenbrier County Library Board regarding the lease that the Institutional Board of Governors had previously granted. The Board of Governors had acted at that time to renew the lease in order to extend the time frame within which the Library Board could begin construction. However, when there was an attempt to renew the lease, state officials indicated that new lease conditions existed, limiting the maximum length of the lease to 40 years (instead of the 99 year term of the previous version of the lease). The Library Board determined that this change in the length of the lease was unacceptable, and Lewisburg city attorney Jesse Guills has been hired to address this matter for the Greenbrier County Building Commission, with whom the lease would be made.

Former Activity Building

Dr. Perkins announced that the Greenbrier County Commission and current Department of Highways have prepared a draft letter requesting to transfer ownership of that building to Bluefield State College on behalf of NRCTC.

WVACHE/OACHE Conference

Dr. Perkins said the NRCTC Greenbrier Valley campus hosted the West Virginia/Ohio Access Center for Higher Education conference that attracted attendees from a five state area. He said the conference was very successful.

NRCTC Board of Advisors

Dr. Perkins presented to the Board of Governors a slate of names of individuals he proposed to serve on the NRCTC Board of Advisors, as stipulated by HB 2224. There was discussion and Dr. Perkins indicated that the nominees have been contacted and have all agreed to serve on this board, if asked. A motion was made and seconded (LAikens/NKantor) to approve the slate of nominees for the NRCTC Board of Advisors. Motion carried.

Virtual College

Data Ports

Dr. Tom Blevins indicated that Dr. Walker had asked him to install data ports in the Library for student laptop use. He said switches have been ordered, some data ports have already been installed and others will be installed soon.

Radio Station

Dr. Walker had asked Dr. Blevins investigate the process of establishing a campus radio station. Dr. Blevins reported that no available commercial band radio frequency exists. He reported that the possibility exists for creating an audio-stream radio station on the BSC website. Plans are proceeding toward the establishment of an Internet radio station on campus, and equipment has been ordered. Issues related to programming and staffing remain to be addressed.

Cable TV

Dr. Blevins distributed a list of BSC community service/educational program on airing on the Comcast Cablesystem. There was discussion concerning the cable TV. Mr. Kantor asked Dr. Blevins to contact Wisdom Media, regarding this initiative.

Dr. Blanks distributed a Bluefield State College Foundation summary of endowments.

Neighborhood Investment Program

BSC has received $26,000 in NIP tax credits for use on or before December 31, 2003.

AEP Building

Dr. Blanks said that AEP officials are seeking approval of the contract containing terms of the BSC Research & Development Corporation’s offer to purchase the former AEP building in Bluefield. The contract, after gaining approval of AEP officials, will then be presented to the Board of Directors of the BSC Research and Development Corporation.